POLITICS
Florida Supreme Court allows 6-week abortion ban and abortion referendum: When will the vote be?
The Florida Supreme Court has issued a ruling that will allow an abortion referendum to take place in November just as restrictions on abortion are signed into law.
On Monday, 1 April, the Florida Supreme Court released two opinions regarding abortion rights and protections in the state. The results are a mixed bag for both the pro-and-anti-choice sides of the debate.
Firstly, the court ruled that Florida’s extremely restrictive six-week abortion ban can go into effect in thirty days. The legislation would dramatically limit access to abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, a timeline that leaves little room for a person to decide on their reproductive health as they might not yet know that they are pregnant. Planned Parenthood, which was the primary challenger of the Florida law in the courts, based much of its arguments on protecting the right to abortion on the right to privacy. This argument was rejected by the court’s majority, who ruled that “decision by this Court holding that Florida’s constitutional right to privacy does not include a right to abortion.”
Voters will have a chance to voice their opinion
The second opinion regarding abortion, which was released on Monday, relates to a referendum on abortion access that was requested to appear on the November ballot. The state’s Supreme Court also ruled that a referendum on establishing a constitutional right to abortion can appear on the ballot in November.
The question that will be posed to voters is whether or not they agree with the following text:
No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.
While the law is considered to be one of the strictest passed in the post-Roe era, it may not be on the books for long if voters approve of the text proposed.
One of the strictest abortion laws passed since Roe was overturned
Unless any other moves are made by the court to block the bill’s implementation, the law will go into effect in early May. Dubbed the “Heartbeat Protection Act,” the bill altered state law by “prohibiting physicians from knowingly performing or inducing a termination of pregnancy after the gestational age of the fetus is determined to be more than 6 weeks, rather than 15 weeks.” Reproductive justice advocates raised many concerns when the law was passed a year ago, mainly because at six weeks, a person can not yet know they are pregnant.
Does the law have exceptions for rape and incest?
The law does create exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape, incest or human trafficking but before an abortion is carried out, the patient “must provide a copy of a restraining order, police report, medical record, or other court order or documentation,” that shows that she is a victim of a crime. This is a burden for many victims and can place women in vulnerable positions if they have an abusive romantic partner. Additionally, for a victim of human trafficking, getting in contact with law enforcement authorities is often impossible because another person controls their movements.